If a tar sands tanker hits a rock on the Kinder Morgan shipping route past Vancouver Island, the resulting spill could decimate wild salmon, clams, and other food sources that First Nations have relied on for centuries.

To really understand what is going on on Burnaby Mountain over the past weeks and months it should be seen in the context of years of frustration for those of us on Canada's West Coast sick of the attempts by Enbridge and Kinder Morgan trying to push their dangerous pipelines across the mountain and rivers communities we live in.

When I heard about the protest on Burnaby Mountain, I decided to go up and lend support. During my first several visits there were no police in sight. That changed last Thursday when the RCMP moved in to enforce the injunction handed down by the B.C. Supreme Court. We've seen media photos and video of the physical conflicts that have sometimes developed, but those instances have been rare and it's important to keep them in perspective.

While voters will someday know how much non-profits including Dogwood Initiative spent during the election, as it stands it will forever remain a mystery how much oil giants such as Kinder Morgan have pumped into advertising during this year's municipal campaign.

The review process for Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has stripped away valuable opportunities for public input to ensure that the entire review process takes no more than 15 months. Unlike the review process for the proposed Northern Gateway, there will be no cross-examination of evidence or oral hearings in affected communities.